Going Off on a Tangent

This blog post is not going to be anything about hoarding copper or nickel. This blog post is going to be about something that I stumbled across that has the potential to become big. What I came across was YUWIE. Yuwie is a social network very similar to Myspace. The difference with Yuwie is you get paid for your pageviews. I figured this was too good to be true but I have a very trustworthy friend and he showed me his paypal receipt for the money that he earned in August. Now, this by no way will make you rich, he earned about $25 in August, about $50 in September and about $85 in October. However, it can provide some extra income for doing something that you were doing anyway. And you can see it can grow. I joined because there isn't any risk involved, might as well give it a try. If you think you want to try then Click Here. If you don't want to try, don't be suprised when you start hearing about Yuwie in a few months and wish you signed up now.

Copper holding steady

Well, it appears that the price of nickel and zinc have fallen over the last few months. A nickel is still worth about 6.5 cents but a zinc penny is now only worth .65 cents. Earlier this year, the zinc penny was worth more than one cent for a while. With that said, the copper cents are holding their value. They are still worth around 2 cents a piece, double their face value. I believe that next spring we will see another hike in coppe prices just as we did last spring. Since the copper prices will already be starting higher, I believe we will see the copper cents being worth at least 3 cents each next summer. I believe it is smart to keep hoarding the copper now and I would also recommend hoarding the nickels as well. After they change the composition of the nickel in 2009 it will be harder to hoard. What better time than now when you don't even have to sort them.

Copper Thefts Getting Out of Hand

More and more we are hearing about the increase of copper thefts across the nation. It is becomming obvious that this increse in the price of copper has spurred a movement if you will. This will only get worse as the price of copper rises. On this note, I would advise that those of you with larger hoards of copper cents should take extra precautions in making sure they do not get stolen. I would even keep it on the down low that you have so many copper cents. Keep on hoarding though as it will pay off in the end.

It's Been a While

Well, It has been a while since my last post obviously. I've been busy all summer and didn't really get a chance to follow much of the copper market. As it stands right now the price of copper has stayed pretty steady as the price of zinc and nickel have fallen. However, nickels are still worth about 7 cents each at the time of this post so it is still advisable to hoard them. It also goes without saying that you should still be harding your copper pennies as well since that price has stayed the same. Just keep at those hoards a little bit at a time. I don't see the price of copper going down anytime soon or ever for that matter.

The Hyperinflation of the U.S. Dollar

Hyperinflation happens when inflation is out of control. In this scenario, prices raise rapidly because currency is losing its value. The U.S. dollar is getting dangerously close to a hyperinflation state. It is becoming less and less stable every day. In 1913, you could buy the same for $.04 that you can now buy for $1.00. This means that the U.S. dollar has lost 96% of its value in less than 100 years. Even if it only follows that same rate, by 2100 it will cost $25 to buy what we can buy for $1.00 now. The scary thing about this is, it is not following that same rate, the value of the U.S. dollar is beginning to drop more and more rapidly. For this reason, hoarding metals with actual face value is a very safe way to make sure your investment will always be worth something. Right now, you can instantly double the value your investment with pre-1882 copper cents and nickels. I believe a market will develop for these metals within the next two years or so. Hoard now, while you still can.

Running Totals:
Copper Cents: 2650
Nickels: 1000

Face Value: $76.50
Metal Value: $155.55

Zinc Keeps Climbing

The price of zinc keeps climbing, meaning that if it keeps up this same trend, soon every penny in circulation will be worth more than face value. The total melt value of a zinc (post-1982) penny today was $.009586, just shy of face value. If zincs become worth more than face value and keep climbing like the coppers did, I think the US Treasury is going to have to do something about it, they cannot keep producing pennies at a loss. I see them either changing the composition of the penny to steel or completely doing away with it. Remember, a copper penny became worth more than face value only 2 years ago.

Running Totals:
Copper Cents: 2650
Nickels: 1000

Face Value: $76.50
Metal Value: $158.77

Hoarding Nickels

If sorting through rolls and rolls of pennies is just not your thing, then you may choose to hoard nickels. I actually do both. The composition of the common nickel is 75% copper and 25% nickel. The price of copper alone is enough to make a nickel worth more than its face value but the price of nickel is increasing too. You do not have to do any sorting with nickels since they have held that composition since 1947, though you may want to sort through to look for older nickels. I do both nickels and pennies to have diversity with my hoard but this is entirely up to you.
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Running Totals:
Copper Cents: 2200
Nickels: 800

Face Value: $62.00
Metal Value: $130.39

What You Should Be Hoarding

For those of you who may just be getting started with your hoarding, this post will inform you of what coins you should be hoarding. For pennies, you should be keeping all of the pre-1982 cents. These cents are composed of 95% copper and 5% zinc. In 1982 the mint changed the composition to 97.5% zinc and 2.5% copper. There were, however, copper cents minted in 1982. I would recommend that you save all 1982 cents and buy a scale as the copper cents weigh 3.11 grams and the zinc cents weigh 2.5 grams. Anything after 1982 you can roll back up and take back to the bank for money to buy more cents to sort through. You may also wish to save the zinc cents as well since the price of zinc seems to keep rising and the value of the metal content of the zinc cents seems to be getting close to the face value of the cent. I would recommend returning them for more cents to sort through for now though, there will be plenty of zinc cents around should the value of the metal content ever become greater than the face value of the coin.

It is also important that you sort out any wheat cent that you may find within your copper cents. The reason for this is the collector value of the wheat cent is much greater than the value of the metal content. Wheat cents are generally worth about 8-10 cents each, which is significantly more than the value of the metal content. I will explain about hoarding nickels in my next post.

running total: 2200 copper cents

Re-instatement of the Melting Ban

The ban on melting cents and nickles was re-instated today after it was briefly expired. The ban originally went into effect on December 14, 2006 and expired on April 14, 2007. It is now re-instated indefinately. It looks like we will have to stick to just hoarding copper for now. I'm sure there will still be some people melting it and some places that will take the melted copper which will end up making the copper cents more scarce in the long run. The price of copper closed at $2.5221 a pound Monday and the price of nickel closed at $22.9272. This means $1 face value of copper cents is now worth $2.35 and $1 face value of nickels is now worth $1.85.

Running Total: 2000 copper cents